Tresor – a techno haven

If Fabric, Egg London and Printworks had some kind of steamy three way affair – their love child would be Tresor in east Berlin.

A concrete labyrinth of hard graffitied staircases and passages, with some of the best techno in Europe vibrating off every surface.

Definitely not for the fainthearted, the downstairs ‘cellar’ is void of ventilation and the air is thick with cigarette smoke and sweat. This is a dancefloor come vault, as either side is lined with empty alcoves that used to house the bank safes of the Wertheim department store.

The ravers in this basement are truly ‘in the zone’, and making your way through the crowd seems a little like wading through a hoard of zombies. In the interests of avoiding becoming some of them, the entrance floor quickly became our favourite. The atmosphere was less intense and the open plan bar was home to the biggest plasma ball I have seen in my life.

From chatting to friendly clubgoers Tresor seems to be a common favourite of Berlin residents, with one young couple saying they prefer it to the notorious Berghain.

“I do try out other clubs in the city but I always end up here, something always draws me back,” said Enzo, the 20 something software intern we spoke to outside the toilets.

What I liked most about Tresor is that it is just so wonderfully dingey. Low lighting, a damp smell that lingered on our clothes and scrawled handwriting in the toilets that we couldn’t help but add to. The atmosphere is casual and laid back, yet at the same time electric and palpable.

Now to the nitty gritty.

Getting in was a pure dream – arriving at 3AM there was no queue, no ID check and no intrusive pat down (Fabric I am looking at you). Though I must admit if you look like a tourist you might be charged €5 extra than a local like we were.

We never had to wait for a drink or the toilet and yet the dancefloor was packed. One thing to note when at the bar is that there is a weird coin deposit system when you buy a drink in a glass. Our inebriated selves found it rather hard to grasp this concept and we ended up keeping all of the tokens as mementos, not realising we were costing ourselves more money. But hey, they look cool and it’s a nice memory.

There is ‘technically’ a no picture policy inside the club, but I was caught a good 6 or 7 times and wasn’t kicked out.

A 25 minute walk and across the river from the club is the East Side Gallery section of the Berlin wall. I would thoroughly recommend a post club gander. I promise you that against a backdrop of the rising sun you will not be disappointed. Plus if you have a buddy to give you a piggy back like I did, then 25 minutes really isn’t that far to walk.

Pictures author’s own.

Words, Vicki Shadbolt

You can find the co-editor-in-chief and fashion editor raving at techno parties and posting pictures of buildings on Instagram with the handle @vshadders.